After five weeks, Ford’s Focus Rally: America has ended. All six teams traveled across the country in the all new fuel efficient 2012 Ford Focus while competing in challenges. This was the first interactive road rally of its kind. Followers at home were encouraged to pick a team to “follow” and help them with challenges. Followers had their own opportunities to earn points just like the 6 teams who were competing. Murphy Ford had chosen to follow the Red team. We played along online as well as watched the weekly episodes on Hulu as they aired. Below is a summary from where our last update left off, of what happened with the rest of the rally.
During week 3 of the rally, the teams traveled to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The teams competed in several exciting challenges, including one in Pleasant Valley, Arizona. This challenge involved one member of each team being strapped to an airplane and having to walk across the wing. The Yellow team captured their first win during the end of week 3 with a challenge on Route 66. At this point in the competition, the Red team was in first place.
By week 4, the teams had made it to Las Vegas. Their first challenge was two parts. The first part of the challenge was for each member of each team to perform a controlled “skyjump” from the 108th floor of the Stratosphere Tower. In the second part of the challenge, each team had to take a picture that capture the spirit of Vegas as well as have themselves and their Focus in the picture. Since the online followers were able to determine the winners of this challenge by ranking their favorites, it was suspected that strategic voting was taking place after the Yellow team was announced as the winner. Since the Yellow team was in last place, it would have been advantageous for the online followers to rank them high so that even if they did win the challenge, they would still not be a threat to the other teams. However the reason of why they won, the Yellow team came out on top.
After this challenge the teams drove to Jean, Nevada. Right in the middle of the Mojave Desert, the teams had just drive and stop when they though they had driven for a mile. The teams were not able to see out of their windows and whichever team was closest to a real mile would win. Because of the Red team’s prior racing experience, they were able to come in first. John and Carolyn, the Grey team, decided to try a different strategy. They reasoned that if they did not move at all, they would come in last place allowing themselves to participate in a point repo. After their point repo, the Red team was moved to last place.
The next stop for the teams was Squaw Valley, California. The teams competed in a challenge at the USA Ski Resort. During this challenge it was obvious the other teams considered the Red team a threat because they each tried to eliminate the Red team first, allowing the Blue team to win.
After this challenge, the rallyers were off to the House of Air in San Francisco. The Black team took first place while at the House of Air furthering pushing the Red team behind.
The Red team’s experience once again proved to be an asset to them while competing in Monterey, California. At Laguna Seca Raceway the teams had to drive in reverse in a coned off course while conquering four different weather stations. The Red team had the fastest navigating time so they finished in first place but this only moved them to fifth place in the overall ranking. After the challenge, the teams got to race a lap with either Tommy Kendall or Justin Bell. Both of these men are World Champion drivers.
The very last challenge for the teams took place in Mount Hermon, located just outside of Santa Cruz, CA. Because it was the last opportunity for the teams to earn points, this challenge was worth 200 points. During this challenge, the teams had to tackle an intricate ropes course while answering trivia questions about the previous challenges that had completed. The teams would earn points based off of their completion speed as well as their correct answers to the questions.
After the challenge was over, the teams traveled to one last destination; Seabright Beach. At this point, even though the rally challenges were over, the teams did have one more opportunity to win a brand new Ford Focus for one of their followers. The Silver team’s follower won the car and because the Silver team’s follower won, Margot and Jeff were given $10,000 cash.
It was now time for the moment the teams and America was waiting for; the announcement of the winner. The first and second place teams were only separated by 60 points. The Grey team, John and Carolyn, were the overall winners with the Blue team in second. The Red team finished in 5th place. The Red team really believed that they were at a disadvantage because they fell victim of the point repo three times. They were the team with the most followers at over 9,200.
The final Leader Board:
The most interesting part of the rally for the at home followers was the opportunity to engage with the team we were following. After you had logged into focusrally.com, you were able to watch your team’s live feed from their Focus as they were driving. Our team was answering questions sent in via Twitter. Murphy actually submitted a question asking what was the best concert both Matt and Brittany had ever been to. They actually answered the question on their live feed and we were able to witness it. The fact that this was all filmed and executed in real time was a great way to have the at home followers feel like they too were competing in the rally. It was a really fun experience and hopefully Ford will expand the rally to other countries or considering hosting another one in America featuring another vehicle.
Murphy Ford LincolnFocus Rally:America WebsiteEpisode on Hulu
